Why Church? Why Community?

Community is only and always what people are:  beautiful   and   broken   and   utterly redeemable.

I was asked recently at one of my medical intake interviews, "Do you have a support system?" I almost laughed. I feel I have the best people in the world around me, both near and far. I could not imagine a better "band of brothers and sisters" to walk side by side with through the joys and storms of this life. Christian community is something I feel so strongly about and speak about often. So did Jesus. So when Audrey and Christina sent me the email below, I knew I had to share it with you. I've changed it a little bit for the sake of clarity and space. It was titled: 15 Reasons Why Community is Important....(Even if You've Been Hurt) 1. Christ is the head of the Body and He is Love; both can only exist in community.   2. God's people are given the ministry of reconciliation. (2 Cor. 5:16-21) Reconciliation begins first in our homes, then down the street, in this pew, around the corner, in our community - or else we are ministers of misrepresentation. 3. It is when you reach out in community that your gifts can be used in the Kingdom.  4. Joining and participating in just one group or community this year cuts your odds of dying in half over the next year.   5. Community is only and always what people are: beautiful and broken and utterly redeemable. 6. There are no I-slands in the Kingdom, only His-lands. The notion of a lone ranger is purely bad fiction.  7. The wonder of this: "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?" (1 Cor. 3:16)  We are all the "living stones" of the temple of the Holy Spirit. But if one stone withdraws from the other stones....? The "you" in 1 Corinthians is plural. Y'all together are the temple of the Holy Spirit; we are a temple of the Holy Spirit together - in community. We need each other, all of us. And believing is about belonging to a community.  8. 2000 years of Christianity is founded on the breathtaking "living organism" called community.  It's when we are given in community that we collectively live it before the world and God is among us.  9. Community is healthy for us. Those with strong social connections but poor health habits are just as healthy as those with good health habits but weak social connections.   10. There are brothers and sisters in Christ who have died for gathering together. How could we neglect so great a privilege?  11. "Door" in Hebrew, means generation. May we be the next generation to go next door - the generation who knows who lives next door, what they need next door, how they ache next door. The Next Christians need to be the generation of Next Door Christians.  12. The Christian life is the compassionate, crucified, cruci-formed life - not the comfortable life. Community is how God shapes his children into the image of Christ.   13. We love Him enough to meet Him where He is. Jesus once said that where "...two or three are gathered in my name, there am I ..." 14. Love is a tree and each person a branch. And a pile of cut off branches doesn't make a tree. Love can only be comprehended in community.  15. Every chance I have to love imperfect people is another chance to perfect God's love in me. This is a way to let your love soar. Some good words of wisdom to think about, I'd say. Have a great week living in community with imperfect people.....like me! Greg

My Ocean Reflections

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning;  great is thy faithfulness, O Lord!         ~ Lam. 3:22-23 ~

So here we are at the ocean at our favorite getaway by the beach. I sleep beside an open window, listening all night to the waves. We get to come here once a year and it is a place for me of healing, of being still, of listening for the whispers of my Lord and for the receiving of wisdom. I am always so intrigued and engaged by the personality of the ocean. In fact, it really reminds me of - and so wonderfully demonstrates - the character of our Almighty God who made and rules the heavens and the earth, and that includes the ocean. Oh, how the sound of the ocean can exude such a calm, peaceful and serene atmosphere that envelops my soul, captures me, and then replaces my worries and concerns with its own calming presence. It's like it just draws my stuff out of me so gently and then - almost surprisingly - a change takes place in me. Like the words of the song, "Change my heart, oh God; make it ever new...," the ocean, without a glitch, causes a quiet conversion of my heart. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled; neither let them be afraid."  (John 14:27) And what about the waves? No matter what the size, they just keep approaching the beach endlessly...relentlessly...timelessly. They are faithful to their calling. So it is with the Lord's faithfulness. It is God's declaration every day, every night, every week and month and year, to be endlessly, relentlessly, timelessly faithful, always approaching us with His gentle presence. "...Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)  "I will never leave you nor forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5)  One more thing: If you shut your eyes and listen, maybe you can see the ocean; maybe you can hear the sound of the waves. Or maybe you can hear the whispers of the Lord, "My peace I leave you, and my faithfulness, as always...is yours." Sea-breezed and Loved by Him, Greg

Living the Yes

If I'm ruthlessly honest, I may have said yes to God, yes to Christianity,   but really,   I have lived   the no.        ~ Ann Voskamp ~

My wife was given a beautiful book recently. It is the story of one woman's quest to live life fully. At one point the author pens this confession, "If I'm ruthlessly honest, I may have said yes to God, yes to Christianity, but really, I have lived the no."  Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts We live the no? Humanity's inheritance: unbelief, discontent, distrust. Doubting the goodness of God. Unsatisfied with what he promises. And it goes all the way back to the garden. It began with the serpent's conversation with Adam and Eve, asking that opposing question, "Did God say?" "The serpent said to the woman, 'You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'" Genesis 3:4-5 Aha! It is the lie that grabs hold of the mind and strangles faith: God is holding out on me, and he doesn't really mean what he says. Somewhere along the line the serpent whispers and we choose to believe the lie that God isn't good and he is holding out on us. We want more! Suspicion and ingratitude creep in, growing like weeds in an untended garden, choking out the peace and joy we were meant to experience through faith as creatures who were created in the image of a faithful God. We give God his due, but live as if he doesn't exist...or he is powerless...or he is indifferent to what happens here. We have said yes to God, yes to Christianity, but we live the no? "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, How blessed is the man who trusts in You!" Psalm 84:11-12 Today, friends, may we stretch out our arms in gratitude and surrender, boldly daring to trust, choosing to live, doing the yes. Live the Yes! Greg